The ubiquity of rock that forms the planet earth and its essential place in relation to our existence is now my stimulus for choosing to make sculpture by carving stone.
Stone’s broad range of colour, shape, and mineral composition intrigues me. When honed to make the construct more visible, the overwhelming experience is of gazing into infinity. I find that in each stone there exists an almost unfathomable sense of time.
Through analysis of the mineral alignment of rock, evidence of initial creation is revealed. Observable too are subsequent episodes of geological disruption and upheaval in the cauldron that is earth’s mantle, where folding, mixing, infusion and extensive reconfiguration occur.
In Lines in Time, I’ve chosen to work with gathered stones from a variety of locations in Scotland predominantly guided by the travels and visionary work undertaken by James Hutton (1726-97). Hutton’s encounters in the field studying rock samples and outcrops led him to develop his ground-breaking thesis Theory of the Earth, gaining him world-wide recognition, and the accolade of Father of Modern Geology.
Several of the stones I’ve selected contain natural inclusions. A few reveal the sedimentary layering of silts and sands consolidated over time by heat and pressure. Others tell of a geological phase, an episode of fusion and foliation of the rock when it was pliable leading to the matrix being squeezed, crumpled, and folded together. There are stones that incorporate lines of feldspar, quartz, and other minerals. Some are as delicate as a spider web, whilst others are considerable in size. What initially appear as surface lines are three-dimensional in form. They are the eroded edges of vertical, horizontal, or oblique layers formed at the time of rapid earthquake-induced fault movement when molten rock was created then injected at great velocity into cracks or where lines of weakness could be exploited.
Of great sculptural interest to me is the rock and stones of the earth are the natural objects possessing mass, weight, and gravity. In their genesis, they engender a feeling of having been formed and altered in a multi-dimensional space. I work with a material embodied with the layers of trace and memory related to its origin. By working along with the character of each stone through carving, incising, and occasionally using colour I augment and add a further layer of change aiming to make sculptures of innate simplicity. My sculptures take their cue from aspects of earth’s creation and its variety of landform. Inescapably they are likewise about me as the maker and reflect the time we currently live in.
Jake Harvey, 2024
